The Italian won his first ever Grand Prix in Monaco on May 23 but had to settle for fourth place last Sunday, after Michael Schumacher recorded his sixth win out of seven from Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello — their fourth 1-2 of the season — with Jenson Button third.

Schumacher, on his 60th pole position, had his dominance halted in a crash in Monaco but this time he got away clearly in the lead, and performed another masterclass while Trulli moved into second as the cars began braking into the first corner.

But the 29-year-old Renault driver had to take avoiding action as BAR's Sato roared towards him.

"The start on Sunday was good," said Trulli.

"I was past Sato and fighting with Michael when we braked for the first corner.

"Then, suddenly, I had to get out of the way — I had no option.

"I saw Sato coming and it was a choice between crashing there and then or trying

something later.

"So I was third, and then he (Sato) made a mistake in the third corner, so I took the inside line, but he just came across as if I was not there.

"His right front wheel hit my front left and it nearly knocked my steering wheel out of my hands!"

Several corners later Trulli hit the pit-lane limiter by mistake and lost four positions and at the end of lap one he was seventh after starting third on the grid.

Sato later tried his best to drive Barrichello off the track which cost him a front wing and a pit-stop, until he blew the motor himself.

Trulli said: "In the end it cost me because after that five cars were held up behind (Kimi) Raikkonen and it meant that when I made my first stop, I got caught in traffic behind slower cars on two stops.

"I couldn't pass them, so all I could do was sit behind, keep close and wait for their stops.

"The car was good after we added some front wing at the first stop, and I had no problems, so I just kept on pushing for the next three stints and tried to run at a consistent pace."

Trulli gained a position when team-mate Fernando Alonso ran wide in turn four and he steadily climbed up the order.

After some retirements, he finished fourth and now sits just two points behind BAR's third-placed Jenson Button in the championship.

It was the young Englishman's fifth podium of the season and a Grand Prix victory surely

beckons.

Ferrari has opened up a tremendous lead in the

constructers' championship on 106 points, with Renault second on 61 while Williams' and McClaren's nightmare seasons have no end in sight.

Trulli admitted that the Renault team knew the race was going to be "harder than Monaco" due to the conditions and were finding things

"difficult with the car" in practice.

But Binfield's new favourite star says fourth was a fair result considering everything nearly finished at the first corner.

"Maybe it could have have been different without the problems on the first lap," said Trulli.

"But it is a fair result when you are seventh at the end of lap one fourth is not too bad overall.

"Most importantly the team is now in a stronger position than when we arrived here, and that is what counts when you get to the end of the year."